Meet William Cephus, Sodexo Senior Services Vice President, System Sales
By Michelle Thomas, Senior Manager, Diversity Recruitment, Sodexo

Before you achieved your current position with Sodexo, what other positions did you hold?

Prior to joining Sodexo, I was the Chief Operating Officer and SVP of Sales and Marketing for a $250-million outsourcing company. I have been an executive for the past 25 years working in various industries. After attending West Texas A&M, I spent 13 years working my way up through the ranks of The Coca-Cola Company. I then switched gears and went into the energy business, working for the Tennessee Valley Authority as Vice President of the Western Region. This was a huge role. Not only did I have P&L responsibility for $1.2 billion in sales and manage 1000 people, I was also the first minority to hold this position. Additionally, I was not even trained as an engineer.

How did your peers and clients react to you?

I had to learn to do what engineers do from a business perspective. Although I was not an engineer, I had the business acumen that was needed to get the job done, and they respected me for this. I was dealing in markets like Philadelphia and Memphis; minorities were not typically in roles like mine in some of these communities. However, because of my track record of success, I was able to gain their confidence. My motto is "As long as people value you and give you an opportunity to learn, go for it."

My undergraduate degree was in journalism, but I was able to maneuver my way through various industries because of my willingness to try new things and to step out of my comfort zone.

What makes Sodexo an employer of choice for diverse candidates?

Sodexo really sees the value of diversity from many different viewpoints. It is not a public relations tactic. It is seen throughout all layers of the company from the selection of managers to the diverse suppliers we use.

Prior to joining the company, someone from Sodexo called me three times a year asking me to post to various positions. You do not get this type of attention from large organizations, unless they see the value of diverse candidates. They look at diversity from a wide spectrum.

What advice do you have for college students looking to begin their career?

There is not enough attention paid to internship programs. I think all college students should do some type of internship. It does not matter if they are paid or not. This will help them learn the expectations of the workplace and also give them an opportunity to discover what they really want to do. A lot of companies have a name and product that you can recognize, but this does not necessarily make them a good company to work for. You won’t find this out until you actually work there. I also encourage them to talk to current and past employees to get a real sense of what the company may be like.

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